September 3 – 8, 2019. Leaving Manila wasn’t such a big deal at first. Separation didn’t get real until I saw my parents off at the Paris airport last Tuesday. Oh my heart when I saw them holding off tears. Spent the next hour on my commute to my new ‘apartment’ holding back my own. I made my way from the airport all the way to Surenes to settle down at my new place. It was my first long city commute and I’m proud to have figured out how to get from north-east of Paris to west via public transportation on my own.
It was, and still is, an overwhelming feeling, as I’ve never lived away from my family and home. The thought that there’s no turning back–as I would be 10,000 kilometers away from the familiarity and comfort of family and friends–was daunting. Should I encounter any problem, I’d have to figure everything out on my own.
The rest of the week was spent acquainting myself with my new neighborhood in Suresnes, which is a very suburban community west of Paris. I went for jogs at the park and strolls around Fort Mont-Valérien in the mornings. I discovered where to go for groceries, and where to buy ulam and rice at the Chinese traiteur (some sort of ‘turo-turo’) a few blocks from the house. And of course, I tried to acquaint myself with the public transport system further with the RER and the Metro.
Just to disabuse any romanticized idea of my ‘Paris’ life, I don’t live in an apartment along a cobblestone street with a view of the Eiffel. I now live off the basement of a house of a generous French couple in a beautiful Paris suburb, with two Pinoy students. It’s a wonderful arrangement. It’s much cheaper than renting a shoebox flat in central Paris. And the neighborhood is not bad at all.
Anyway, I also started doing a few administrative necessities such as setting up a bank account and subscribing to a mobile plan. I am very thankful that my Filipino colocs (‘housemates’) Thomas and Regina, are guiding me throughout. I would have had a much harder time figuring everything out by myself without their help. Their presence also made me feel much less homesick as I probably would have felt.
As their new coloc, I joined them in a K-Pop festival on Saturday (they are big fans of their respective K-Pop idols), where we had some Korean food at the park. On Sunday they showed me where they hear weekly mass at a Catholic church near Arc de Triomphe. I was so happy to see so many Filipinos, there were even many of them who were selling Filipino food outside the premises. It hadn’t been so long since I left the Philippines but I was delighted to have had a taste of turon and kwek-kwek.
Other days of the week, I spent doing preliminary readings of my academic materials at ‘co-working’ cafes in the city in preparation for the start of my classes. It was also a good opportunity for me to explore some parts of the city. On Thursday, I went to a co-working space around the Gare Saint-Lazare area. On Sunday after mass, I went to one around Hôtel de Ville.
